Man Being Chased by Cops Stops to Play With Cats

Daniel Pinedo-Velapatino faces multiple charges in Florida

(Newser)
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Daniel Pinedo-Velapatino was apparently so stressed out during a police chase last week he stopped at a stranger's house to play with her cats. The saga began when the 21-year-old allegedly stole $15,000 from a friend in Florida, and police later saw him hit a car at an intersection—while driving a stolen Lexus. Police gave chase when he sped off and hit the highway to Boca Raton; he eventually ended up on a dead-end road, the Sun Sentinel reports. That's when police say he promptly crashed into a fire hydrant, hit an officer's car twice, then got stuck in mud. After breaking away from cops on foot, he ended up at Candace Noonan's back door, WPBF reports.

Claiming to be a thirsty landscaper, Pinedo-Velapatino asked for water. And while Noonan obliged, he sprawled on her living room floor to play with her cats. "It was odd, very odd. He was stroking my cat. It almost looked like he either was on drugs or he was mentally handicapped," she tells the station. He eventually fled as cops closed in, ending up in a canal nearby, where police fished him out of the water. Pinedo-Velapatino now faces a slew of charges and claims he stole the money to pay his mom back, the Palm Beach Post reports. (Another police chase ended when this man fled into a police academy.)

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